Have you ever seen a brassiere on a man? Or perhaps a child tossing ping-pong balls into garish purple bra cups fastened to a pegboard?

If not, you didn’t make it to the Pickens Relay for Life Kickoff Party last Saturday, where nearly 80 people came out to get this year’s event off to a good start – and organizers say this may be the biggest year so far.

“This year’s kickoff was the biggest we’ve had in forever,” said Pickens Relay Chair Nicholoe Collins. “I guess we’ve just really stressed to teams to get out there, and we’ve advertised and communicated on Facebook, and word of mouth is picking up too. People are realizing how important this really is.”

At Relay (to be held in Pickens County this May at Lee Newton Park in Jasper) teams of people raise money to support cancer programs in their area. They honor survivors and raise awareness for the pervasive disease during a 24 hour, non-stop walk.

So far this year Collins said nearly 20 teams have signed up in Pickens, “and at last year’s Relay we only had 20 the day of the event in May. It’s incredible.”

If you would like to join a team, start a team or sign-up as a survivor in Pickens, visit www.pickensrelay.org. There you can also learn more about and purchase tickets for upcoming Relay events in town, including the FATZ breakfast on Feb. 25.